1978 in literature
The year 1978 in literature involved some significant events and new books. Events *The Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year, a humorous award given annually to books with unusual titles is created. The first winner was Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. New books *Alan Dean Foster – Splinter of the Mind's Eye *John L. Parker Jr. – Once a Runner *Kingsley Amis – Jake's Thing *Richard Bach – Illusions *Beryl Bainbridge – Young Adolf *Thomas Berger – Arthur Rex: A Legendary Novel *William Peter Blatty – The Ninth Configuration *Judy Blume – Wifey *Charles Bukowski – Women *Anthony Burgess – 1985 *Taylor Caldwell – Bright Flows the River *Chantal Chawaf – Rougeâtre *John Cheever – The Stories of John Cheever *C.J. Cherryh – Well of Shiuan *Brian Cleeve – Judith *Mary Elizabeth Counselman – Half in Shadow *L. Sprague de Camp **''The Best of L. Sprague de Camp'' **''The Great Fetish'' *L. Sprague de Camp, Lin Carter and Björn Nyberg – Conan the Swordsman *Samuel R. Delany – Empire: A Visual Novel *Don DeLillo – Running Dog *Nelson DeMille – By the Rivers of Babylon *Phyllis Eisenstein – Born to Exile *J. G. Farrell – The Singapore Grip *Howard Fast – Second Generation *Ken Follett – Eye of the Needle *Ernest J. Gaines – In My Father's House *Günter Grass – Die Flunder – (The Flounder) *Graham Greene – The Human Factor *Donald Hamilton – The Silencers *Harry Harrison – The Stainless Steel Rat Wants You *James Herbert – The Spear *William Hjortsberg – Falling Angel *John Irving – The World According to Garp *Marshall Jevons – Murder at the Margin *James Jones – Whistle *Ismail Kadare – Ura Me Tri Harqe (The Three-Arched Bridge) *M. M. Kaye – The Far Pavilions *Stephen King **''The Stand'' **''Night Shift'' (collection of short stories, including Children of the Corn) *Christopher Koch – The Year of Living Dangerously *Larry Kramer – Faggots *Judith Krantz – Scruples *Ursula K. Le Guin – The Eye of the Heron *Madeleine L'Engle – A Swiftly Tilting Planet *Robert Ludlum – The Holcroft Covenant *John D. MacDonald – The Empty Copper Sea *David Malouf – An Imaginary Life *Richard Matheson – What Dreams May Come *Ian McEwan – The Cement Garden *James A. Michener – Chesapeake *Alice Munro – Beggar Maid *Larry Niven – The Magic Goes Away *Tim O'Brien – Going After Cacciato *Andrew J. Offutt – Conan and the Sorcerer *Robert B. Parker – The Judas Goat *Elizabeth Peters – Street of the Five Moons *William Luther Pierce – The Turner Diaries *Belva Plain – Evergreen *Mario Puzo – Fools Die *Mary Renault – The Praise Singer *Ruth Rendell – A Sleeping Life *Hubert Selby Jr. – Requiem for a Dream *Whitley Strieber – The Wolfen *Thomas Sullivan – Diapason *Rosemary Sutcliff – Song for a Dark Queen *John Updike – The Coup *Philip Van Rensselaer – That Vanderbilt Woman *Gore Vidal – Kalki *William Wharton – Birdy *Herman Wouk – War and Remembrance *Richard Yates -''A Good School'' *Frank Yerby – Hail the Conquering Hero *Roger Zelazny – The Courts of Chaos New drama *Miguel M. Abrahão - O Chifrudo *Brian Clark - Whose Life Is It Anyway? *David Hare – Plenty *Ira Levin – Deathtrap *Mary O'Malley – Once a Catholic Poetry *Robert Minhinnick – A Thread in the Maze *John Tripp – Collected Poems *Luis Alberto Spinetta – Guitarra Negra (Black Guitar) Non-fiction *Gisela Bleibtreu-Ehrenberg – Tabu Homosexualität *Roger Caron – Go-Boy! Memories of a Life Behind Bars *Lord David Cecil – A Portrait of Jane Austen *Charlotte Chandler – Hello, I Must Be Going! *Christina Crawford – Mommie Dearest *Gerald Durrell – The Garden of the Gods *Don E. Fehrenbacher - The Dred Scott Case: Its Significance in American Law and Politics *John Gall – Systemantics *H. R. Haldeman – The Ends of Power *Mollie Katzen – Moosewood Cookbook *Richard Nixon – The Memoirs of Richard Nixon *M. Scott Peck - The Road Less Travelled *David Rorvik – In his Image: The Cloning of a Man The author (Rorvik) intentionally left the word "his" uncapitalized in the title of this book. See Talk:David Rorvik Births *June 26 – Eric Shapiro, novelist *July 23 – Lauren Groff, novelist and short story writer *''date unknown'' **David Llewellyn, screenwriter **Rachel Trezise, novelist and short story writer Deaths *January 12 – Robert Harbin, author of many books on origami *March 1 – Paul Scott, Raj Quartet author *March 24 – Leigh Brackett, science fiction writer *April 14 – F. R. Leavis, literary critic *May 1 – Sylvia Townsend Warner, poet and novelist *May 12 – Louis Zukofsky, modernist poet *June 18 – Walter C. Alvarez, medical author *September 15 – Edmund Crispin, crime writer *September 28 – Pope John Paul I, author of Illustrissimi under his real name of Albino Luciani *November 15 – Margaret Mead, anthropologist and author Awards * Nobel Prize for Literature: Isaac Bashevis Singer * Bookseller/Diagram Prize for Oddest Title of the Year is first awarded. The winner is Proceedings of the Second International Workshop on Nude Mice. Canada * See 1978 Governor General's Awards for a complete list of winners and finalists for those awards. France * Prix Goncourt: Patrick Modiano, Rue des boutiques obscures * Prix Médicis French: Georges Perec, La vie mode d'emploi * Prix Médicis International: Aleksandr Zinovyev, L’Avenir radieux – Russia United Kingdom * Booker Prize: Iris Murdoch, The Sea, The Sea * Carnegie Medal for children's literature: David Rees, The Exeter Blitz * Cholmondeley Award: Christopher Hope, Leslie Norris, Peter Reading, D.M. Thomas, R.S. Thomas * Eric Gregory Award: Ciarán Carson, Peter Denman, Christopher Reid, Paul Wilkins, Martyn A. Ford, James Sutherland-Smith * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for fiction: Maurice Gee, Plumb * James Tait Black Memorial Prize for biography: Robert Gittings, The Older Hardy United States * American Academy of Arts and Letters Gold Medal for Fiction, Peter Taylor * Nebula Award: Vonda McIntyre, Dreamsnake * Newbery Medal for children's literature: Katherine Paterson, Bridge to Terabithia * Pulitzer Prize for Drama: Donald L. Coburn, The Gin Game * Pulitzer Prize for Fiction: James Alan McPherson, Elbow Room * Pulitzer Prize for Poetry: Howard Nemerov, Collected Poems Elsewhere *Premio Nadal: Germán Sánchez Espeso, Narciso *Viareggio Prize: Antonio Altomonte, Dopo il presidente References Category:Years in literature